DTT now Live from Woodcock Hill

fkearney

At long last DTT live in Limerick ! CH47 (682Mhz). RTE1, 2 and TG4.TV3 just showing a test card. Signal strength looks good. Using a technomate 5000combo.

pbirney

fkearney wrote: »

At long last DTT live in Limerick ! CH47 (682Mhz). RTE1, 2 and TG4.TV3 just showing a test card. Signal strength looks good. Using a technomate 5000combo.

Thanks for the heads-up.

MiketheMechanic

Thanks for letting us know fkearney.

Does anyone know what power levels they might be using for the DTT trial on Woodcock?

I thought that something might have been up allright this evening!

My Philex Gold 6-way distribution amp is being overloaded by a Group B Yagi pointed at Woodcock Hill for Analogue RTE Terrestrial. This seems to make the picture quality very poor downstream of the amp. The picture quality is ok without the amp.

I will try out some attenuators before the amp and see if I can sort it out.
Attic is cold tonight though

Now to get a DTT receiver!

MtM

fkearney

I used a very small indoor aerial on my bedroom Tv and managed to get solid images. had to use the Neotion CAM on the acustic solution TV to get displayed video but then lip sync issues. For now I'll stick with my combo box.

TVDX

I'm also getting perfect signal with an indoor loop aerial which previously gave ok reception.
It's working perfect in VLC with Wand TV USB DVB-T stick.
Finally were out of the dark ages!.

radiospan

Reception is much better than with analogue. Getting 80% signal on my TV, and perfect picture with just half a meter of coaxial cable connected to nothing as an aerial. (Dooradoyle area)

The Cush

This morning I decided to check if there was a DTT signal from my analogue transmitter Mullaghanish, when I selected digital on my Sony KDL-26V4500 remote control the channels appeared automatically without a scan.
Initially I assumed the signal was from Mullaghanish but when I checked the UHF channel being received it displayed Ch.47 from Woodcock Hill.
This surprised me considering my aerials (VHF/UHF Gp.A) are pointing at Mullaghanish and a (previously installed) Woodcock Hill Band B aerial only picked up an unwatchable analogue signal due to the terrain and the low power (2kw) analogue transmitter.

The channels being received are RTE 1, RTE 2, TG4 and the 4 radio channels. TV3 test card only. Analogue Aertel teletext. No epg info and no digital text.
The MHEG-5 digital text is a problem with this model of tv (Sony KDL-26V4500) as has been discussed on the boards. So following the procedure discussed there I reset the tv to UK and rescanned, this time I had Digital Aertel text and the digital channels were renumbered from 801-808 also analogue-VHF RTE 1/2 were not available from Mullaghanish (due to the UK country setting), only UHF TV3/TG4 were available.

Considering that Digital Aertel text is extremely basic (news & business news) at the moment I have decided to reset the tv to Ireland for the full range of analogue channels from Mullaghanish and the limited number of digital channels with analogue teletext from Woodcock Hill. I plan to e-mail Sony Ireland regarding the MHEG-5 / Ireland DTT bug with this tv.

Overall I am delighted with the displayed picture and sound of the digital channels and the strength of the DTT signal received with an off beam aerial.

MiketheMechanic wrote: »

Does anyone know what power levels they might be using for the DTT trial on Woodcock?

According to the RTÉNL DTT Estimated Coverage & Timescale attached to the Boxer DTT Application to the BCI, Woodcock Hill will transmit at 10 kw from the start.

watty

I need an attenuator!
My mast amp for woodcock is overloading, noticeable degradation.

I shall fix the analogue and hold off till autumn for family DTT PVR.

Shulgin

I am down near Mallow and have to get my signals from Maghera due to a mountain blocking mullaghanish. DTT is coming through from woodcock no problem. Only sound on my tv though.

Antenna

The Cush wrote: »

Woodcock Hill will transmit at 10 kw from the start.

I'd expect that the current DTT transmission is in fact more than 10kW on Ch 47 considering the overload problems etc.

Ch47 was allocated for TV3 analogue at some transposers in Munster but never used, so a greater power than 10kW on Ch 47 is not going to cause a problem with analogue transposers in other areas (unlike the other 3 channels allocated for DTT from Woodcock Hill - 41,44, 51 - used at Mitchelstown etc)

TheDriver

Shulgin wrote: »

I am down near Mallow and have to get my signals from Maghera due to a mountain blocking mullaghanish. DTT is coming through from woodcock no problem. Only sound on my tv though.

Maybe your tv can only handle MPEG2 hence no video?

Widescreen

MiketheMechanic wrote: »

Thanks for letting us know fkearney.

Does anyone know what power levels they might be using for the DTT trial on Woodcock?

I thought that something might have been up allright this evening!

My Philex Gold 6-way distribution amp is being overloaded by a Group B Yagi pointed at Woodcock Hill for Analogue RTE Terrestrial. This seems to make the picture quality very poor downstream of the amp. The picture quality is ok without the amp.

I will try out some attenuators before the amp and see if I can sort it out.
Attic is cold tonight though

Now to get a DTT receiver!

MtM

Hi,I have my terrestrials,and 2 sky boxes,linked to 2 other rooms using a dist.amplifier and since last night the reception,through the rf coax only,has deteriorated to all TV's on one of the sky boxes. All terrestrials and other sky box fine. I have checked all cables and noone else had touched anything and the picture from the offending box using a scart is perfect,but obviously that only benefits one TV. Before I start further trouble shooting do you or anyone think this may be caused by something to do with DTT?

thanks

TheDriver

I remember hearing on RTENL website that the channel sky boxes use the rf on can conflict with DTT channels and hence should be changed

Widescreen

TheDriver wrote: »

I remember hearing on RTENL website that the channel sky boxes use the rf on can conflict with DTT channels and hence should be changed

thanks, I'll try that and advise outcome.

TVDX

Very strange, today the TV channels are listing a resolution of 1920x1088 and black screen and radio audio is down.
Is it just me?.

Headshot

is this especially for limerick or can tipp pick it too

TVDX

The channels and radio are now back and at 720x576.
It looks to me that they did some HD trials today.

MiketheMechanic

@widescreen.

Adding an Attenautor between Antenna and front end of the distribution amp largely solved the problem for me.

Its a variable type of attenuator, so you can find a balance between dropping the offending DTT signal enough so as not to overload the amp.
Too much attenuation and you are killing the wanted Analogue signals.

I suppose the ideal solution would be a narrow band bandstop filter to get rid of the DTT on ch 47 without affecting TV3 and TG4. Oh well - attenuator is good enough for now.

MtM

Widescreen wrote: »

Hi,I have my terrestrials,and 2 sky boxes,linked to 2 other rooms using a dist.amplifier and since last night the reception,through the rf coax only,has deteriorated to all TV's on one of the sky boxes. All terrestrials and other sky box fine. I have checked all cables and noone else had touched anything and the picture from the offending box using a scart is perfect,but obviously that only benefits one TV. Before I start further trouble shooting do you or anyone think this may be caused by something to do with DTT?

thanks

Shulgin

TheDriver wrote: »

Maybe your tv can only handle MPEG2 hence no video?

Oh I know that, just saying.
I was thinking of getting one of those cams but I`ll probably just wait for a STB

glineli

Shulgin wrote: »

I am down near Mallow and have to get my signals from Maghera due to a mountain blocking mullaghanish. DTT is coming through from woodcock no problem. Only sound on my tv though.

When is Maghera due to get upgraded, anyone have any ideas??

Antenna

Headshot wrote: »

is this especially for limerick or can tipp pick it too

Co. Tipperary is a big place!

I'm sure it would be receiveable in parts of south-west Tipperary

Widescreen

Widescreen wrote: »

thanks, I'll try that and advise outcome.

Just to let you know, I changed the Sky RF channel number as you suggested and it has resolved the problem.Thanks a lot:)

The Cush

Antenna wrote: »

Co. Tipperary is a big place!

I'm sure it would be receiveable in parts of south-west Tipperary

Should also be receivable around NW Tipp (Newport etc) many analogue antennas pointing towards Woodcock Hill.

TVDX

Once again channels are off and listed resolution is 1920x1088.
Can anyone confirm?. Although it will probably be off by the time someone can.

TVDX

Just as I typed that it came back on.
Strange stuff.

construct06

x2 wondering about maghera?

MiketheMechanic

Hi folks.

Heres what the UHF Spectrum from Woodcock Hill looks like now (albeit with a poor indoor aerial).
Notice the DTT Test Transmission around CH47, between TV3 (CH45) and TG4 (CH49).
For the 4 existing Analogue Channels, the Video and Audio are 6MHz apart.

From here - it doesn't look like the DTT is on significantly higher power than the Analogue.
The dBm power levels are relatively similar.

Regards,
MtM

watty

I checked Woodcock today using a Medion philips hybrid DVBt/Analogue + DVBs card.

One channel had nearly ok sound andt the others very badly out of sync

ProgDVB pro + core AVC codec on XP pro.

100% quality.
Our analogue is only just OK with a preamp and outdoor aerial. We had to change the preamp to higher quality one as the strong DTT was degrading the Analogue sisnce it came on.

Using a Proception proMHD1V now adjustable gain from +7dB to +20dB

MiketheMechanic

Nice one watty.

Now much Gain did you end up using - closer to 20dB or 7dB?

MtM

watty

The DTT doesn't need any, it's only the Analogue. I'd have to measure. About 1/2 way takes the noise out of furthest TV and 1/4 makes closest TV OK.

It confirms that DTT power is massive compared to the 100W analogue

radiospan

Is Woodcock Hill still transmitting DTT? Been watching it almost every day since tests starte, but I turned on the TV today and got no digital channels (doing a search stalls for a bit at Channel 47, but finds nothing)

watty

There is NO IRISH DTT service ANYWHERE

Until a service is launched expect nonsense content and erratic transmission. It's just tests.

TVDX

watty wrote: »

There is NO IRISH DTT service ANYWHERE

Until a service is launched expect nonsense content and erratic transmission. It's just tests.

Did you put your statement in bold because you think we all need it?.
I've been watching since the start and I haven't seen any nonsense content so far.

radiospan

Sorry watty, I'm aware of that.

My post was meant as more of a 'TV enthusiast monitoring the tests' type, than a 'RTE are a disgrace they broke my telly' type

Anyway, the pictures came back some time just after 1pm.

watty

"nonsense" is a relative term

Ask the Panasonic set owners

fkearney

plazzTT wrote: »

Is Woodcock Hill still transmitting DTT? Been watching it almost every day since tests starte, but I turned on the TV today and got no digital channels (doing a search stalls for a bit at Channel 47, but finds nothing)

Hi , I'm still bringing in the DTT from Woodcock hill on the CTech box. Signal levels look strong.

Streete

Apologies if this is an inappropriate post, plus I am a newbie to the world of DTT.

I was just wondering if anyone might be able to help/offer guidance. I am in a rented house and can't stick up an external aerial so my RTE access is poor.

I did a little test last night via rabbit ears and a Sigmatex portable DVD player that has a DVB tuner and it was picking up 50% signal strength and 0% quality on channel 47 downstairs on the most Woodcock'ish facing window and 70% strength and 55% quality on an upstairs window. I was not able to get pictures etc because I don't think the device is compliant with the Irish system but I was wondering if people thought it worthwhile for me to go ahead and purchase a DTT compatible receiver for multiroom viewing of RTE, given that I won't be able to stick up an external aerial?

I am near the South Court Hotel so I suppose PlazzTT's account of getting a strong signal in Dooradoyle off a makeshift antenna got my attention given the proximity to where I am:)

fkearney

Streete wrote: »

Apologies if this is an inappropriate post, plus I am a newbie to the world of DTT.

I was just wondering if anyone might be able to help/offer guidance. I am in a rented house and can't stick up an external aerial so my RTE access is poor.

I did a little test last night via rabbit ears and a Sigmatex portable DVD player that has a DVB tuner and it was picking up 50% signal strength and 0% quality on channel 47 downstairs on the most Woodcock'ish facing window and 70% strength and 55% quality on an upstairs window. I was not able to get pictures etc because I don't think the device is compliant with the Irish system but I was wondering if people thought it worthwhile for me to go ahead and purchase a DTT compatible receiver for multiroom viewing of RTE, given that I won't be able to stick up an external aerial?

I am near the South Court Hotel so I suppose PlazzTT's account of getting a strong signal in Dooradoyle off a makeshift antenna got my attention given the proximity to where I am:)

An internal aerial worked fine with a pc a USB tuner in a location just across the road from you.

Streete

Cheers fkearney, many thanks for the reply!

TVDX

Streete, an internal aerial will get you about 43% signal 99% quality with no bit error rate if correctly placed. A powered internal aerial will get you around 71% signal 99% quality. I've seen massive improvements with indoor aerials that run off a power supply.

Streete

TVDX wrote: »

Streete, an internal aerial will get you about 43% signal 99% quality with no bit error rate if correctly placed. A powered internal aerial will get you around 71% signal 99% quality. I've seen massive improvements with indoor aerials that run off a power supply.

Many thanks TVDX, could you recommend one of those powered aerials? I have been through the sticky thread on aerials and am still a bit confused as Watty encouraged people to avoid them, implying that they may interfere with the telly. Then again that was a while back and newer models may be available.